1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to adjustable wheeled devices for manually transporting people or cargo and more particularly to a handcart that is especially useful for transporting people or supplies during mass triage situations.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many different wheeled devices for manually transporting persons or items of cargo are known to exist. Indeed, devices such as wheelchairs, gurneys, handcarts, or dollies are used everyday to transport everything from injured people to kitchen appliances. Many of these devices utilize extendable and retractable platforms to enable compaction of the device into a small space or to adjust the carrying area of the device to accommodate different size loads.
More specifically, adjustable dollies exist that allow for different size or weight loads to be removably attached to the dolly while preventing excessive movement of the load during transport. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,386,560 discloses a dolly that includes a dropped center floor area, with pivoting casters disposed at each corner thereof beneath a raised end portion at each end of the dropped center floor. While the dropped central floor area provides the lowest possible overall height (only 1.5 inches from the ground) for overhead clearance through standard doorways, such a design requires bending over to near ground level to retrieve cargo. Moreover, this dolly cannot be used to transport supine patients.
In a medical context, spine board dolly apparatuses, such as that disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 5,871,220 issued to Lombard, allow the conversion of an ordinary spine board into a wheeled transport device. Lombard's invention essentially consists of a sleeve with wheels that slips over and is attached with a belt to one end of a spine board. While this invention provides a clever way for a single person to transport a patient or cargo on a platform, the spine board is not kept in a preferred horizontal position and has a relatively high center of gravity. This can result in dumped cargo or can leave a patient uncomfortable and at risk of further injury from being tipped over or dropped. Moreover, each of Lombard's apparatuses must be assembled before use, which could cost precious time in a mass casualty situation.
Thus, there remains a need in the art for an adjustable handcart that is adaptable for use with both people and cargo, is easy to clean and disassemble, can be operated by a single person, stores compactly in stacks, and keeps passengers or cargo in a stable, horizontal position.